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Star becomes black hole without supernova explosion

The uncertainty of science: Astronomers think they have identified a star that, rather than die and become a black hole in a supernova explosion, merely fizzled into a black hole.

Starting in 2009, one particular star in the Fireworks Galaxy, named N6946-BH1, began to brighten weakly. By 2015, it appeared to have winked out of existence. The astronomers aimed the Hubble Space Telescope at the star’s location to see if it was still there but merely dimmed. They also used the Spitzer Space Telescope to search for any infrared radiation emanating from the spot. That would have been a sign that the star was still present, but perhaps just hidden behind a dust cloud.

All the tests came up negative. The star was no longer there. By a careful process of elimination, the researchers eventually concluded that the star must have become a black hole.

There are a lot of uncertainties here. Nonetheless, astronomers have theorized that some stars could collapse into black holes with any explosions, and it appears they might have found their first example of that.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
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"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

6 comments

  • PeterF

    Could this be what is happening to Tabby’s star?

  • wayne

    PeterF–
    Interesting thought.
    How do these two, compare in size? (I’m too lazy to look it up right now)

  • BSJ

    Just saw the most recent Supernova in the Fireworks Galaxy this last Saturday. In a 14″ dob we could even see some of the spiral arms… Not so much in a 12″.

  • PeterF: No, the two events are different. Tabby’s Star is not massive. It is not dying. It isn’t even supposed to be fading, based on all theories of stellar evolution, as presently understood that reasonably explain what we do know.

    The star that fizzled into a black hole actually did something that has been predicted by stellar evolution. The uncertainty is that it did it slightly differently than predicted, a difference that good scientists expect whenever they check their theories against reality.

  • Edward

    Robert wrote: “a difference that good scientists expect whenever they check their theories against reality.

    A difference that good scientists acknowledge when reality deviates from theory. Either the theory is incorrect (have they found any star that followed the theory?) or the theory needs a modification that accounts for this particular observation.

    A theory or model that fails to predict observed reality is wrong.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KmimDq4cSU (10 minutes, “Richard Feynman on Scientific Method”)

  • wayne

    BSJ–
    Good stuff.

    Edward–
    -toss in this one as well–

    Richard Feynman
    Knowing versus Understanding (clip)
    https://youtu.be/NM-zWTU7X-k
    (5:36)

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